Lee Jae Myung pledges to rebuild inter-Korean ties through strong cooperation with US

Korea Herald

2 days ago

-Seoul doing its best on US tariff talks, outcome unclear before July 8
-Lee vows to uphold Kim-Obuchi declaration in ties with Japan
-Lee says tougher curbs on housing speculation in Greater Seoul to come
-Lee reaffirms push for prosecutorial reform
President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday that efforts to improve relations with North Korea must be grounded in close cooperation between Seoul and Washington, noting that inter-Korean dialogue remains difficult to pursue for now.
"The relationship between the two Koreas should improve based on the joint effort and cooperation between South Korea and the United States," Lee said in a news conference held at Cheong Wa Dae, which was formerly used as the presidential compound.
At the first press conference as the president 30 days after his inauguration, Lee also said in his remarks that the ironclad alliance between South Korea and the US, and the three-way cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan will be key to restoring peace on the Korean Peninsula, amid North Korea's continued nuclear provocations and recent military cooperation with Russia.
Based on the cooperation with its partners on regional security, the 60-year-old said that severing inter-Korean talks would be the last option for his administration.
"In fact, diplomacy never even stopped during wartime," Lee said, "It would be a foolish decision to completely cut off communication (with North Korea)."
'If our goal is not an elimination of (North Korea), we may continue to be mutually beneficial to each other within a safety zone, and this is what dialogue, conversation, cooperation and coexistence is all about," Lee also said, adding that his administration hints at renaming the Ministry of Unification in order not to intimidate North Korea.
Lee also stressed that his administration's moves to halt loudspeakers along the border with North Korea paid off, but added he did not expect Pyongyang to respond immediately.
'I thought (North Korea) would react to (our move) for sure. But (North Korea)'s response was quicker than I thought. It was somehow beyond my expectations,' Lee said.
Lee, on the other hand, painted a somewhat bleak picture over whether the ongoing tariff negotiations with the United States could be settled before the deadline for the "reciprocal" tariff suspension suggested by US President Donald Trump. Failure to reach an agreement could leave most of South Korea's goods exported to the US subject to a steep tariff hike.
'I cannot confirm whether the (tariff negotiations between South Korea and the US) could reach a compromise before the July 8 deadline," Lee said.
His remarks came when news broke out that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's planned visit to Seoul next week had been canceled.
"I'm trying to do our best. We must reach a mutually beneficial outcome, but as of now, it is not clearly visible what each side of the table wants,' Lee said.
Lee said in relations with Japan, he would live up to the spirit of the Kim Dae-jung-Keizo Obuchi declaration.
Under the declaration, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi had agreed to build a future-oriented bilateral relationship.
Seoul and Tokyo are "inseparable neighbors" that need to work together, the president said. But at the same time, the two countries have yet to settle issues stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea, he added.
Speaking of the measures to curb housing prices, through his administration's latest measure to discourage banks from extending 600 million won ($441,240) of mortgage loan or more to aspiring homeowners, Lee said his government is ready to roll out more stringent measures to stop speculative purchase of houses in the Greater Seoul area, in order to prevent the housing price from skyrocketing but also stop the capital from suffering overconcentration.
"Speaking of the housing (price) issue, the recent revelation of our plans to restrict new mortgages for those aspiring to buy a home is just the start," Lee said. "I'm trying to turn the tide."
In this vein, Lee said he was not considering designating additional new towns to meet housing demands because it could prompt overpopulation in Greater Seoul.
'It is like drinking salt water when you feel thirsty,' Lee said.
On Lee said that prosecutors "kind of had it coming" with the administration and the ruling party-led overhaul of the criminal justice system seeking to forfeit the public prosecution service's authority to investigate any and all crimes.
The president said the prosecution service, having powers to both investigate and indict, was prone to abuse.
Shortly after Lee took office, the Democratic Party issued a series of bills that would abolish the prosecution service as it is and set up new investigative bodies, much like how the administration under former President Moon Jae-in established the Corruption Investigative Office for High-ranking Officials by splitting the prosecution's functions.
Under the Democratic Party bills, prosecutors would lose their authority to investigate crimes completely as well as to complement police investigations. Prosecutors would decide whether to indict the accused and present their case in court based on the results of an investigation they did not conduct.
The authorities taken away from prosecutors would be given to the police, which the president said "also needs to be kept in check."
The opposition party slammed the sweeping bills targeting the prosecution service as a "political vendetta" by the president, who is mired in criminal cases that were put on hold after he took office.
On the administration's push to distribute up to 520,000 won to every South Korean, Lee said direct cash payment had been proven effective as a stimulus policy during COVID-19. The president said that the cash handouts will be "more effective" in terms of boosting the local economy in execution than anticipated.
Lee said that dialogue with the medical community was the "first step" in restoring the country's health care systems that had been marred by prolonged walkouts by junior doctors.